SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) -- Sen. John Kerry said Monday that higher gas prices mean bigger profits for "this president's friends in the oil industry," as he argued that President Bush chose to help big energy companies instead of consumers.

"For most middle-class Americans, the Bush gas tax increase is a tax increase they can't afford," the Democratic presidential candidate said in prepared remarks.

"The money you're paying at the pump is going directly from your wallets straight into the hands of oil companies and oil producers," Kerry said.

Setting the stage for his third and final face-to-face meeting with Bush on Wednesday -- a debate focused on domestic issues -- Kerry detailed his energy plan and criticized the Republican-controlled Congress for failing to pass an energy bill.

"Instead of standing up for you, George Bush has chosen secret meetings with the energy industry behind closed doors in the White House," Kerry said. "And after four years of empty rhetoric and inaction, the Republican-controlled Congress is ending another session without passing a good energy bill for America. At the end of the day, George Bush just couldn't get it done."

Speaking late Sunday in Albuquerque, Kerry said he would push scientists at the state's major government research labs in Sandia and Los Alamos to develop alternative fuels.

"We're going to get them moving to get us into alternative, renewable energy. We're going to start making America energy-independent," the four-term Massachusetts senator said.

The Bush-Cheney campaign said Kerry had worked in the Senate against the president's proposals to decrease the nation's dependence on foreign oil and develop renewable energy.

"John Kerry's obstruction of a national energy policy makes his current political opportunism completely hypocritical," said spokesman Steve Schmidt. "John Kerry will tell people whatever he thinks they want to hear, and his multiple positions are destroying his credibility with the American people."

To lower energy costs and reduce U.S. dependence on foreign oil, Kerry wants to develop a trust fund for developing clean fuels, develop energy efficient buildings, diversify sources of oil and other fuels and upgrade electricity grids.

Kerry said he came to New Mexico "to get some clean New Mexico air, get some of that good mountain inspiration" for the debate with Bush in Tempe, Ariz.

The visit also shores up support in a state where a poll taken after the first debate showed the Democrat virtually tied with the Republican incumbent.

"Here I am in the state of New Mexico. George Bush is still in the state of denial," Kerry told the supportive crowd Sunday. "New Mexico has five electoral votes. The state of denial has none. I like my chances."

In 2000, Democrat Al Gore narrowly won the state.

(Copyright 2004 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)